No More Running (7 page)

I had never seen or heard Garret act like this. I had a feeling that this date would be very interesting.

Chapter 7

“You’ll have to wear the sling at all times.  Of course you can take it off to shower, but if I were you, I’d even sleep with it on until your physical therapist tells you otherwise.”  Doc had just removed the cast from my arm, and was giving me advice on helping my arm gain strength quicker.  “If you try to use your arm to much, it could slow the healing process for the muscles that were torn.”

“Can I go a little while without it if I try not to use my arm too much?”  I asked. 

“It would be better if you didn’t, why?”

“I didn’t want to have to wear it on my date tonight.”  I told him.  His eyes hardened for a moment, but then he smiled, though it didn’t seem to reach his eyes.

“You finally said yes to Garret?”

“Yeah.  I called him up and told him I would go with him today after I got my cast off.  I didn’t know I’d still be limited and have to wear this thing, but I’ll make due.”

“Diana, are you sure you can trust him?  I know his background check came back clean, but I just don’t want you to get hurt again in any way.”  He didn’t sound upset, just like a concerned friend.  Maybe I had been wrong about him and just reading into things that weren’t there.

“Yes, I think I can.”  I smiled as I thought back over the past weeks.  He hadn’t let my turning down affect the way our friendship was going.  He was still easy going and fun to be around.  “He was raised right.  I don’t think he would ever hurt me on purpose.  Mrs. Chambers would have his hide if he did, though.”

He looked at me for a minute, but I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.  He didn’t seem angry, though.

“Alright,” He said with a slight smile, but again it didn’t reach his eyes.  He seemed kind of sad, and I felt bad for him.  “If you trust him and like him, I’ll support you.  You deserve happiness after all the stuff you’ve been through.  So, what have you got planned for your date tonight?”

That’s why I liked Doc.  He had always put me first and supported me in anything, no matter how he felt about it, which in this case I just couldn’t get a read on.  We talked for a while longer, me telling him about my plans, and him telling me about a nurse who’d been flirting with him.  He was thinking of asking her out, and I was glad to see that he was finally taking time for himself.  If he dated after I left, he never said anything, but I know he hadn’t been before.  He had spent all of his time working and told me that, outside of work, I was the only one he talked to.

****************************************************************************

I had spent an hour and a half showering and getting myself fixed up for the date.  It felt really nice, and Claire even helped with my hair once she got home from work.  She had told me how funny it had been to watch Garret.  She said that he hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything, and seemed like he had been walking around on cloud nine.

“Stephan finally made him go home around two o’clock when he had not heard a conversation someone was having with him.  The man had been talking for twenty minutes and Garret had no idea what he’d been saying.  Luckily though, Stephan took care of whatever it was.”

That made me smile.  I loved that I seemed to have that effect on him.

“So, what are you going to wear?” She asked.

“I was thinking about my black slacks and purple blouse.  I want it to match this stupid sling I have to wear.  I asked if I could go without it, but Doc said it would slow the healing down if I did, so I’m stuck.”  I had picked a purple sling because it was my favorite color, but didn’t think about the fact that it didn’t match half of my clothes.  I was stupid to have done that.  Now I would have to dress to match it.  I thought about buying different colors, but I had to talk to the therapist about how long I’d have to use them to know whether it would be worth spending the money.

After I got dressed and slipped on my black flats, and added a gold necklace and ear rings I had bought, I went down to the living room to get Claire’s opinion, but Garret was already there.  He was twenty minutes early.  When he saw me, his jaw dropped, and he just stared.  I looked down at myself wondering if something was wrong, but I didn’t see anything.  I hadn’t really done anything different except wearing make-up.  I normally didn’t because it would break my skin out if I wore it for too long, but I had wanted to look nice.  Clair had French braided my hair, leaving a couple of pieces hanging.  She had curled those.

“You look beautiful.”  Garret said when he was finally able to close his mouth.

My face heated, and I knew it was probably beet red.   I had always blushed at the smallest things.  It was a curse I’d had to live with all of my life, but I hadn’t had a reason to blush for a long time until recently.

“Are you ready to go?  I know I’m early, but I just couldn’t wait.  We can get there early and have the pick of the best seats…”

I laughed at him, and
he
actually blushed when he realized he’d been babbling.  “Oh, shut up and come on.”  He said with a grin, gently taking hold of my right arm to lead me out of the house.

“Pushy, pushy.” I said giggling.

He had me laughing the whole ride to the movie theater, telling me stories of his ‘innocent youth’.  He told me of multiple things he and Stephan would get in trouble for, only to proclaim their innocence.  He said that Margie never believed him, though and he spent most of his time being grounded for one reason or another.

“I mean, come on, look at this face.”  He said trying, but again failing to pull off an innocent look.  “Could I really do all of the stuff I was accused of?  Does this look like the face of a boy who’d put dye in the soap dispensers in the shower stalls at school?”

Still giggling, I nodded.  “I can totally see that.”

He just huffed and pouted, but I could see the amusement in his eyes.

I couldn’t believe it when we got to the theater and he actually did buy two tickets for Happy Feet Two.  I just shook my head as he held my hand leading me in the door to the concession stand.

“Did you think I was lying?  I really love movies like that, but usually have to wait for the DVD to come out.”  He said.  “Now I can use you as my cover for as long as you’ll allow me to.”

“Sure, big guy.  Anytime.” I said indulgently.

He ordered us a large popcorn and drink to share.  It was free refills on larges, so it only made sense.

“I’m glad you said that, shorty.  Another Alvin and the Chipmunks movie is coming out.  We can see it next week.”  He said in a boyishly hopeful voice.

I just shook my head.  That this big hulk of a man was just an overgrown kid, was too much, but I loved it.  That thought stopped me for a minute.  I thought that I may have been actually falling for this man, and to me that was a scary thought.  I didn’t think I was ready for that.

“What’ wrong?”  He asked when he realized I had stopped.

“Nothing.  I was just remembering that I hadn’t seen any of the other Chipmunk movies.”  I said lamely, but sadly it was the only excuse I could come up with.  I didn’t want to spill the truth to him.

We watched the movie, and believe it or not, I actually loved it.  I never moved my eyes from the screen.

“That was so cool how they all came together to help in the end.”  I said as we exited the theater hand in hand.  “Thank you for bringing me to this movie.  I really enjoyed it, and now I want to see the first one.”

“Well, if you’d like to, we can go back to my place after dinner and have a Happy Feet and Chipmunk movie marathon.”  He said, again he sounded hopeful of my affirmative answer, and with the look on his face I couldn’t refuse.

We headed to the Golden Palace; the best Chinese food around.  It was a bit crowded so we were seated in the middle of the restaurant at a table for two.  We both ordered iced teas and decided to share a poo-poo platter.  That way we could both sample several things and still have the won-ton soup.

“So, you really liked the movie?”  Garret asked as we waited for our order.

“Yes I did.  I loved Will and Bill.  They were my favorites, but it could be because Brad Pitt and Matt Damon did their voices.”

“Nah, that couldn’t be it.  They have nothin’ on me.”  He said with a cocky smirk on his face.

I busted out laughing.  This man certainly had self-confidence.  I saw some one approach our table from the corner of my eye.  When I looked up, I was in shock.

“Hello Dianne.”

Jamie Lane still had the deepest, sexiest voice I’d ever heard, but it didn’t affect me as much as it used to.  I looked at his face, surprised to see most of the burn scars gone.  He looked almost as he had before Chuck had burned his garage down with him in it.

I stood up and hugged his neck.  I would forever feel bad for being the cause of so much pain and loss in his life.  “Jamie, how are you?  What are you doing here on the east coast?”

“After I received the insurance money and got some plastic surgery done, I decided to start completely over, and moved out here.”  He said.  “I told you I had some family in Georgia.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry.  I forgot.”  I turned to Garret who was now standing watching our exchange with interest.  “Jamie, this is Garret Starr my date.  Garret this is Jamie Lane.  I dated him for a while when I lived in Tacoma.”  I introduced them.

They shook hands.  “It’s nice to meet you.”  Garret said politely.  “Would you like to pull up a seat and join us?”

“No thank you.  My date is waiting for me outside, we just finished eating.”  He turned back to me.  “I noticed you walk in, but without your red hair, I almost didn’t recognize you.  You certainly are looking good.”

“Thank you, Jamie.  You are too.”

“Yeah, I thank my plastic surgeon every day.”  He said with a trace of hostility in his voice, but he smiled down at me.  “I would love to get with you and catch up sometime.  Do you have the same cell number?”

“No, I don’t have a cell phone anymore, but you can call me at Starr industries here in town.  We’ll do lunch one day.”  I told him.

“I’ll do that.”  He took my hand and kissed to top of it.  He always had been the gentleman, but there was a glint in his eye that made me very uncomfortable now.  Maybe it was just because I was with Garret and didn’t feel the same as I had before.  “Starr Industries.  Does that make him your boss?”

“I’m his executive assistant.”

“Hmm.  Okay, well I’ll give you a call this next week.”

“Alright.  It was great seeing you again, Jamie.”

After he left and our order came, Garret asked me about him.

“I had gone on a few dates with him, but it never really got serious.  We were better friends; I wasn’t ready for a relationship, and he said understood that, so we just went on a few casual dates.  Tacoma had been the first place I settled after running away from Chicago.  About a year after I moved there, there started to be fires at the homes and places of business of people who’d befriended me.  My employer at the time lost her café and shop, and Jamie lost his garage which he lived in the apartment above it.  He was caught in the blaze, but was pulled out before it went down.  Jamie suffered some severe burns to his face and upper body.  I had to tell the police about Chuck, but when they pulled his record and saw he was a cop, they dismissed my claims.  I had alibies for all of the fires or they would have tried to pin them on me.  When Jamie heard my story, he was angry with me, and understandably blamed me, so I left and haven’t seen him since.”  I thought about how he’d seemed happy to see me.  “He seems to have gotten over it though.”

“I don’t know, Di.  Just be careful, and please let one of us know when you’ll be with him, okay?”  He asked.

“Why?”

“I just want to be on the safe side with you.”  He said.

We finished our dinner, and headed to Garrets house to watch movies.  He had a really nice home theater system, including a wide screen TV and a DVD projection system with surround sound.

“Why didn’t you just bring me here to watch movies?  This is a first rate system, just as good as the theaters have, and it’s less crowded.”  I said as I took a seat in one of the ten captain’s chairs that filled the room.

“Then I wouldn’t have been able to show you off, nor would I have been able to see Happy Feet Two.  It’s not on DVD yet.” 

Garret went and got us some junk food to munch on and a couple of drinks for us to have while we watched the movie.

When he got back, he put the first Happy Feet in first and sat beside me, putting his arm around my shoulders.  About half way through the movie, sharp pains started shooting through my stomach.  I grabbed my abdomen and bent over.

Garret started to stand, turning to me, but fell to the ground with a grunt.  When I slid to my knees to check him, with tears in my eyes from the pain in my stomach, I saw that he’d passed out.  He was all clammy, like he’d been sick, but just hadn’t said anything to me.

My vision was going dark, I felt real nauseous, and I couldn’t get back up.  I reached into Garret’s pocket, where he always kept his phone, and took it out. I dialed Claire’s number, but when she answered, all that came out was a groan of pain before I was lost to the darkness.

Chapter 8

I was in and out of it for Lord knows how long.  The first time I remember anything, Claire was trying to get me to wake up, but I was barely able to open my eyes before the darkness took over again.

The next time was when I was being wheeled down the corridor of the hospital.  I couldn’t concentrate on what people were saying because I ended up rolling off the gurney when I tried to get up to throw up.  When I was finished vomiting, I blacked out again.

There were several times I woke long enough to gain someone’s attention, usually vomiting, and then I was out again.

One of the times I woke, a nurse had come into the room as someone was doing something with my IV.  She sounded upset, but I couldn’t get my mind out of the fog it was in enough to know what was being said.